Hi Alan, hopefully [@woodworm]‍, or [@telemando]‍, will pop in to give you some ideas they've had different treatments.for prostate Cancer should be help. Best wishes.... Billy 

Hi Alan. Welcome to the forum, and the club that no one wants to join.

I was diagnosed with early stage prostate cancer back in 2010 when I was 56.  I opted for surgery using the newly available Da Vinci robot - for me it was a no-brainer choice given my relative youth. My PSA dropped to < 0.1 after surgery and it was still < 0.1 at my last PSA test 3 months ago. 

Like everyone after surgery, I had a period of incontinence.  This was pretty bad for the first few months, but after three months it was much improved and I no longer needed the Tena pads but instead could use the smaller and cheaper Always Ultra.  After a further 3 months I was able to stop wearing pads, although I carried spares and a spare pair of undies.  Eight months after surgery I made separate two day trips to London, one for business and one for pleasure, without wearing any special protection.  Twelve months after surgery I decided I was about 99.99% continent.  Now, perhaps once every 3-4 months I lose a single drop of urine. I continue to do my pelvic floor exercises.  On the whole, I'm very happy with the situation. 

Of course, I realise that you're in a different position. You don't mention your PSA, but if it's below 10 and your Gleason grade is 3+3 with no indications of spread, then simply monitoring could well be a viable option.  It would help if you could share more details of your case. 

Hi thanks for getting back to me my PSA is 6.2  i have thought on just having it monitored but the would like me to have the operation. The on bit i don't like the sound of is the incontinence. Plus when you get to 72 they won't do the operation so i need to make a decision. Radiotherapy is an option but it's a bit like been in a microwave. 

Thanks for your response it helps me quite a lot. 

I decided that I would have the operation and I would have no regrets, and that I wouldn't say "if only" if anything didn't work out. I didn't want to spend my remaining time bitterly regretting something that might have turned out better. 

The first month or so after removal of the catheter is the worst.  Make sure you do the pelvic floor exercises several times a day and it will pay dividends.  After that, there should be a very slow improvement. Don't forget that you've been replumbed and the body has to reshape all the pipework, which takes many months.  At first, you'll find it difficult to know if your bladder is full or not, so you'll keep running to the loo only for a teaspoon to come out.  But after a while, things settle down and in a while everything will feel as it always did before.  You'll know when you need to go and when you don't. 

Keep in touch because I'll probably have some tips to help you - if I can remember 10 years back. 

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply.

Hi Alan,

Sorry not to reply sooner. I had radio and hoirmone therapy. I wasnt given the choice of removal as my psa was 70 but my psa ended up at 0.01 and is still very low nearly ten years on. 

Yes I did have have some side effects from the hormone therapy but they were manageble. I had the hot flushes and ended up having a competition with my with and I won  hands down both for the amount and for the severity. I dont mind telling you the amount of times I heard my wife say Now you know what us women go through ha ha.

This treatment well worked for me. pLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH, bRIAN